PEILiberal incumbent Heath MacDonald will be going back to Ottawa as the MP for the central P.E.I. riding of Malpeque.’It was a really different campaign,’ says incumbent in the central P.E.I. ridingStephen Brun · CBC News · Posted: Apr 28, 2025 8:42 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour agoHeath MacDonald hugged his mother after learning that CBC projected he would hold Malpeque for the Liberals. (Kerry Campbell/CBC)Liberal incumbent Heath MacDonald will be going back to Ottawa as the MP for the central P.E.I. riding of Malpeque.With all but one of the riding’s 97 polls reporting at 1:30 a.m. AT Tuesday, MacDonald was holding a lead of more than 5,225 votes over Conservative candidate Jamie Fox, a former provincial Progressive Conservative cabinet minister and interim party leader.MacDonald had 14,864 votes, Fox had 9,639 votes, the Green Party’s Anna Keenan had 1,020 votes, the NDP’s Cassie MacKay had 420 votes and People’s Party of Canada candidate Hilda Baughan had 126 votes.MacDonald has held Malpeque for the Liberals since 2021.He said he heard along the campaign trail that Islanders saw Liberal Leader Mark Carney as the best-qualified person to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump’s continued threats of a trade war. Incumbent Liberal candidate Heath MacDonald has held the central P.E.I. riding of Malpeque since 2021. (Tony Davis/CBC)”It was a really different campaign. It’s something that I’ve never experienced,” MacDonald told CBC News following his projected win Monday night. “There wasn’t a lot of issues being discussed; there was a lot of tariff talk, Donald Trump…. We had a little bit of health care at the doors. But people are concerned with… the country and the direction it’s going [relative] to the United States.” The central P.E.I. riding of Malpeque is one with a growing population, particularly in towns like Kensington and Cornwall.Balancing population growth and the need for housing with the protection of farmland is something residents in the riding have expressed concerns about, some candidates said. It’s also home to the P.E.I. end of the Confederation Bridge to New Brunswick, the toll on which has been a concern for Islanders for some time. Federal leaders have weighed in on the issue in recent weeks, promising to reduce or eliminate the toll should they be elected. The riding has remained Liberal for more than 30 years.ABOUT THE AUTHORStephen Brun works for CBC in Charlottetown, P.E.I. Through the years he has been a writer and editor for a number of newspapers and news sites across Canada, most recently in the Atlantic region. You can reach him at stephen.brun@cbc.ca.With files from Kerry Campbell
Heath MacDonald keeps P.E.I.’s Malpeque riding painted Liberal red
